People believed that Parker was hyper-controlling of his star talent. I don't think anyone can give you a specific dollar amount, but by the mid 1970s, Parker was taking 50 percent of Presley's income and the expenses were coming from Elvis' half. He is the TV Editor at Entertainment. My mother-in-law said to me, if anything comes to light about this Parker, tell them that his name is Van Kuijk and that he murdered the wife of a greengrocer on the Bochstraat. As far as his background, I think no one knew the Colonels background. As someone who knew Colonel Parker and had three, tense, three-hour meetings with him over a two-year span in the 90s, I admit there were times I felt a chill of evil from him that scared the hell out of me and made me fear for my personal safety, especially during a ride through the Vegas desert. This became a business model for managing musicians. Some of them have received royalty payments, as well as rights to use his name. As he did not have a will when he died, the bulk of the estate fell to his only heir. In the deal, Parker received $6.2 million over seven years. But his investigation took a much more sinister turn after he received a second tip in 1980. He entered America illegally by jumping ship and traveling with a tent show before returning to the Netherlands. With the passage of the Music Modernization Act, the independent administrator, the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), was created and given access to Gracelands Elvis Presley Enterprises and Sony/ATV Musics music library to oversee mechanical licensing. His father was a stableman for van Gend en Loos on the Vlaszak, he recalled for Alanna Nashand set on what would become a 30-year search for the truth about the Colonel. More info. More still went to RCA records, sole owner of all of Elvis' music before 1973, thanks to a $5.4-million deal Parker arranged in that year. Sam Cookes family labeled his manager, Allen Klein as a predator, sucking the money from the family long after the innovative soul singers death. In the late 80s, Lisa Marie Presley, Elviss daughter, began living in the home. Alanna Nashs biography of Parker, The Colonel, claims he may have been trying to avoid passport scrutiny because he might have been a suspect in a murder in Breda. There is some speculation this may be due to the managers hidden status as an illegal immigrant. When Elisabeth Finch met Jennifer Beyer in 2019, the two women forged a fiercely loyal friendship, and eventually got married. He sold Elvis hats, lipstick, sneakers,. And when Alanna Nash went through the Dutch courts to obtain a copy of the original police report on the murder, she found that nowhere in its 130 handwritten pages was there any mention of the young man who would become the Colonel. READ MORE: VIDEO REVEALS SECRET ABOUT ELVIS PRESLEY'S JUMPSUITS. It is a deal that severed the Presley estate from the royalties for more than 700 songs and put $2.6 million in the colonel's pocket. Get your picture back.. It was claimed he took 50 per cent of Elvis earnings which was not true. Parkers idea was to repeat the scheme of the 1950s, with Elvis singing in front of the cameras and showing only his orchestra in the background, as well as taking advantage of the proximity of Christmas 1968 for Elvis to perform a series of Christmas songs. See today's front and back pages, download the newspaper, order back issues and use the historic Daily Express newspaper archive. In California, between Barstow and Bakersfield, there were billboards every hundred yards, See the Thing! Huntington, West Virginia, meanwhile, was a stop along the route of the carnivals that the Dutch teenager worked when he first came to the States. The Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham locked Keith Richards and Mick Jagger in a room and wouldnt let them out until they wrote a song. 'Elvis: Let Me Be There' a three CD soundboard release from Elvis' January-Feb 1974 Las Vegas season. Yeah, Hanks said at Cannes The amount of ways that Parker cheated people out of nickels and dimes, and dollars is extraordinary. They might also have discovered that Tom Parker had never held a U.S. passportand that while he had served in the U.S. Army, he had done so as a private. You live in this bubble and youre almost frightened to escape from it because you think things will go wrong. Theyre one of Hollywoods brightest starsand most troubled actors. Parker accepted that the outing would be a return to big live performances, choosing the old television set for Elvis to film a special. Elvis himself amassed considerable wealth throughout his lifetime and due to his worldwide success, especially after his death, his estate has only increased in value. While he had a few box office misses, his best films were extremely successful. The primary beneficiary of Elvis Presleys estate is his daughter, Lisa Marie Presley. Parker arranged for Elvis to give a series of concerts in Las Vegas, but these were unsuccessful in a city with a crowd that was certainly wealthy but middle-aged and barely fond of rock and roll, before which Parker contacted Paramount Pictures for Elvis to participate in a total of seven films (considering that in those years, one of Presleys main interests was acting). Elvis had paid $55,000 for the thing, but the Colonel, snowman to the core, apparently had only had one side of the old yacht paintedthe side that faced the dock. For his part, Parker himself died with a net worth of $1 million, or roughly $1.8 million in today's money (via Dollar Times ). Half Man, Half Animal! He took that really seriously. Todd pointed to the fact Elvis would call his pilot in order to fly across the country with a group of friends just to eat whatever food he fancied. The premises had then been ransacked, apparently fruitlessly, in a search for money. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Faced with this problem, Parker could not keep up with the pace of presentations and eventually had to allow Elvis to return to his Graceland residence, dedicating himself only to receiving his royalties from RCA but without returning to recordings. Epstein would never think about stepping into the studio while the Beatles were recording. Parker managed to conclude a contract with the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas for Elvis to perform concerts there for a full month, in exchange for US$ 125,000 per week, a very high sum for the time for a single artist. In the 1980s, Vernon Presley, Elviss father, along with his daughter, Priscilla, who had been married to Elvis from 1967 until 1973, were living in the home. Sure, he was out of touch with the times by then, and didnt see the Phoenix-like potential of what the special could do for his attraction, as he called Elvis. Today, the estate of the legendary singer, songwriter, actor, and cultural icon Elvis Presley is worth an estimated $300 million. But, even so, he was always anxious to ensure that attention never settled for very long on two vexed questions: exactly who he was and where he came from. Business as usual. Presley was very serious about his music and honestly wanted to bring that to acting. Among the most damning evidence was Parker's 1973 agreement allowing RCA to buy out the rights to Presley's 700 songs. Stories of managerial terrorism abound in music history. Simultaneously, Parker had decided for many years to cut costs for his client by preventing Elvis from embarking on concert tours or mass contact with his fans. Advertising Notice So I saw a different sort of Colonel Parker from how many people possibly believed he behaved. Though Austin Butler is a little too pretty as Elvis, and cant replicate the hypnotic pull of Presleys exotic good looks, hes nonetheless a convincing prince from another planet. He was a carny to the last, even if for one second, unlike with FDRs old Potomac, he had presented the side he never wanted to show. Parker's response: . Parker noted that Elvis presence in various films was a sure source of income for many years, until the public began to react unfavorably. In 1932, he had gone absent without leave and served several months in military prison for desertion. It was arguably the first marketing campaign aimed squarely at the teen demographic. That's amazing for anyone let alone a smoker and someone who was borderline obese. Rather, he admitted, I have to be honest. His 25 percent commission from Elvis's tours and record sales alone amasses to nearly $14 million dollars, plus another $2 million for his film commissions. Though his will specifically prohibited anyone from contesting the will, many of Elvis relatives attempted to dispute the validity of the document. Gladys didnt trust Parker but agreed to advise Elvis to sign because she thought he was also signing with Snow. He also staged the first live international solo concert via satellite with Elviss Aloha from Hawaii special in 1973. 2 million from his investments, bringing the grand total to over $28 million. Interestingly, my paychecks from MGM said "Elvis Exploitation" on themodd terminology. Her lawyer argues shes being overcharged, and the case seems destined to become the latest front in the ongoing debate over criminal justice in the city. He is currently focusing on anime, his childhood love, with special atten Did Colonel Parker Steal from Elvis? She is the only child of music icon Elvis Presley, and inherited a substantial estate from her father. The result was a show titled Elvis, taped at the NBC studios. Potomac, was going to be salvaged. Cookie Settings, Nash still believes it more likely than not that Colonel Parker was a killer, Kids Start Forgetting Early Childhood Around Age 7, Archaeologists Discover Wooden Spikes Described by Julius Caesar, 5,000-Year-Old Tavern With Food Still Inside Discovered in Iraq, Artificial Sweetener Tied to Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke, Study Finds, The Surprisingly Scientific Roots of Monkey Bars. He contributed to Altvariety, Chiseler, Smashpipe, and other magazines. Furthermore, throughout the late 1950s and 1960s, Elvis was one of the most popular entertainers in the world, so many moviegoers were likely to attend his films just to see the singing and dancing of their idol. In general, fans of the icon think that Colonel Parker never let Elvis fully shine. Tom Hanks plays this villainy broadly with cartoonish gusto, veering somewhere between Snidely Whiplash and Sydney Greenstreet. It is estimated that she inherited around $100 million from his estate after his death in 1977. Before Smithsonian.com, Dash authored the award-winning blog A Blast From the Past. He could only finance Elvis next movie if the singer broadcast a television special. How much money did Colonel Parker make off Elvis? Although border-crossing formalities were minimal then, the Colonel did not accompany him. OBrian told me that when he asked Parker why he insisted on doing business in cash, the Colonel said, Because, boy, there aint nothin like cash! By contrast, the Colonel kept a higher percentage of the movie take than the star, and consigned Presley to a series of increasingly cringeworthy films, even for the singer himself, who yearned for the challenge to play a real role. The answer to who owns the royalties to Elvis songs largely depends on the individual song. In parallel, Parker feared that Elvis in Germany would decide to take on another manager, or that on his return he would have lost favor with the public. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'coalitionbrewing_com-leader-2','ezslot_9',154,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-coalitionbrewing_com-leader-2-0');Priscilla Presley manages Graceland and its related properties, while Lisa Marie Presley owns her fathers recordings, franchise, and memorabilia. In his frenetic, dazzling, exhilarating mess of a movie, Elvis, Baz Luhrmann has done much the same when it comes to Colonel Parker, showing us only one side of a highly complex and intensely fascinating and mysterious character. Hanks gives Parker a pan-European-cum-Nazi accent, but in real life, most people bought his story of hailing from Huntington, West Virginia, a relatively isolated area in the 50s. Answer (1 of 3): Colonel Tom Parker was a carnival barker, a con man, an inveterate gambler Parker earned and stole from Elvis over 100 million dollars as Elvis manager. Elvis accepted the idea and married Priscilla Beaulieu in the spring of 1967. Colonel is depicted as a Svengali character and, to be fair, most managers of popstars over the years have been more than a bit dodgy, he said. The Colonel encouraged anything that grabbed headlines and created controversy for his boy. Nash and Vellenga have their own version of events, one that they insist best fits the facts. How much money did Colonel Parker make off Elvis? The band said they werent sure, so Phillips told them to do it again. You never saw it coming. Presley received $4.6 million. Elvis Presleys manager Colonel Tom Parker, whose sole client was the King, has long been said to have taken 50 per cent of all the rock n roll icons earnings. It is a deal that severed the Presley estate from the . One sign of Parkers influence was to convince Elvis to accept the military service to which he was enrolled in January 1958 by the United States Army, alleging that it would be in Presleys career to show himself as an ordinary man and avoid special treatment.